By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : India’s ambassador to the United States Ronen Sen Tuesday apologised for remarks alluding to critics of the India-US civil nuclear deal as “headless chicken”, but said the “tactless” reference was to “some of my media friends” and not parliamentarians.
In a message to Rediff India Abroad, which had carried an interview with him that caused an uproar in the Indian parliament Tuesday, Sen said he “had an off-the-record conversation with the correspondent giving some assessments” on the deal.
“A number of the comments were, however, either misunderstood or misquoted or quoted out of context. For instance, I did not say that the Hyde Act could not be renegotiated, but said that the bilateral agreement could not, in my view, be renegotiated. With reference to the Hyde Act, I had expressed my assessment it would not be amended in the foreseeable future,” he said.
“Some of the comments attributed to me in this off-the-record conversation were, however, made by me in my personal capacity and do not reflect the positions of the government. I fully recognize that such personal views, even in a private conversation, should have been expressed with better judgement and due decorum.
“For instance, my comment about ‘running round like headless chicken looking for a comment here or comment there’ was a tactless observation on some of my media friends, and most certainly not with reference to any Hon’ble Member of Parliament.
“It was certainly not my intention to cast aspersion on any individual or organization. However, if I have unwittingly hurt any sentiments, I offer my unqualified apologies,” Sen said.
But Rediff India Abroad stood by its story, saying: “At no point of the conversation did the ambassador specify that it was off-the-record or even on background.”
Sen “did not specify that our conversation was off-the-record or on background, and hence, I unambiguously and unequivocally stand by my report and state categorically that nothing in it was either deliberate, malicious or misunderstood or misquoted, because I have nothing but the highest respect for him,” the interviewer, Aziz Haniffa, said.